The Leather Workers and Weavers (Punjab)
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
The leather-workers and weavers
Next above the scavenger classes in social standing come the workers in leather, and above them again
the weavers. Abstract No. 100 on the opposite page gives the distribution of both groups. I have taken them together ; for though there is a wide distinction between the typical leather-worker or Chamar and the typical weaver or Julaha, yet they are connected by certain sections of the leather working classes who have taken to weaving and thus risen in the social scale, just as we found in the case of some of the scavengering classes. It is probable that our figures for Chamar and Mochi really refer to the same caste, while Chamrang and Dabgar are perhaps merely names of occupations.
The group forms an exceedingly largo proportion of the population in the
eastern districts and States and under the hills, where the Chamar is the
field-labourer of the villages. But in the central districts his place in this
respect is taken, as already remarked, by the Chuhra. In the west, too, the
leather-worker, like all other occupational castes, is much less numerous than
in the east. The weaver class, on the other hand, is naturally least numerous
in the eastern districts where much of the weaving is done by the leather
working castes.
The Chamar
(Caste No 5)
The Chamar is the tanner and leather worker of North-Western India, and in the western parts of the Panjab he is called Mochi whenever he is, as he generally is, a Musalman, the caste being one and the same. The name Chamar is derived from the Sanskrit Charmakdra or or worker in hides.-But in the east of the Province he is far more than a leather-worker. He is the general coolie and field labourer of the villages ; and a Chamar, if asked his caste by an Englishman at any rate, will answer Coolie as often as Chamar.' They do all the begar, or such work as cutting grass, carrying wood and bundles, acting as watchmen and the like ; and they plaster the houses with mud when they need it. They take the hides of all dead cattle and the flesh of all cloven-footed animals, that of such as do not divide the hoof going to Chuhras. They make and mend shoes, thongs for the cart, and whips and other leather work ; and above all they do an immense deal of hard work in the fields, each family supplying each cultivating association with the continuous labour of a certain number of hands. All this they do as village menials, receiving fixed customary dues in the shape of a share of the produce of the fields. In the east and southeast of the Panjab the village Chamars also do a great deal of weaving, which however is paid for separately. The Chamars stand far above the Chuhras in social position, and some of their tribes are almost accepted as Hindus. Their religion is sketched in section 294. They are generally dark in colour, and are almost certainly of aboriginal origin though here again their numbers have perhaps been swollen by members of other and higher castes who have fallen or been degraded. The people say : Do not cross the ferry with a black Brahman or a fair Chamar,one being as unusual as the other. Their women are celebrated for beauty, and loss of caste is often attributed to too great partiality for a Chamarni. Sherring has a long disquisition on the Chamar caste, which appears to be much more extensive and to include much more varied tribes in Hindustan than in the Panjab.
Miscellaneoui entries classed as Chamars
Under the head Chamar, I have included the schedule entries The Dhed appears to be a separate caste in the Central Provinces though closely allied with the Chamar, But in the Panjab, as also I under stand in the Central Provinces, the word is often used for any low fellow, and is especially applied to a Chamar.
Why is a Chamar always addressed with Oh Chamar ke any other caste would be ? instead of Oh Chamar,as The Bunia appears only in the Ludhuuia district^ and is applied to a Sikh Charaar who has given up leather-work and taken to weaving, and accordingly stands in a higher rank than the leather-worker.
The Bilai is apparently the village messenger of the Dehli division. He is at least as often a Chuhra as a Chaniar, and might perhaps better have been classed with the former. But there is a Chamar clan of that name who work chiefly as grooms.
The Dosad is a Purbi tribe of Chamars, and has apparently come into the Pan jab with the troops being retm'ned only in Dehli, Lahore, and Ambala.
The Rahtia is said by several of my informants to be a Sikh Chamar who, like the Bunia, has taken to weaving ; but unfortunately part of my Rahtias are Musalman. In Sirsa the word seems to be applied to the members of any low caste, such as Chamar or Chuhra.^
The Sikh Chamar or Ramdasia
It will be seen from Table VIIIA that in the north and centre of the Eastern Plains a very considerable number of Chamurs have embraced the Sikh religion. These men are called Ramdasia after Guru Ram Das, though what connection they have with him I have been unable to discover. Perhaps he was the first Guru to admit Chamars to the religion. Many, perhaps most of the Ramdasia Chamars have abandoned leather-work for the loom ; they do not eat carrion, and they occupy a much higher position than the Hindu Chamars, though they are not admitted to religious equality by the other Sikhs. The Ramdasia are often confused with the Raidusi oi Rabdasi Chamars. The former are true Sikhs, and take the pdhul. The latter are Hindus, or if Sikhs, only Nanakpanthi Sikhs and do not take the pcikul ; and are followers of Bhagat Rav Das or Rab Das, himself a Chamar. They are apparently as true Hindus as any Chamars can be, and are wrongly called Sikhs by confusion with the Ranidasias, (See further, paragraph 608.)
The Musalman Chamar or Mochi
(Caste No. 19)
The word Mochi is properly the name of an occupation, and signifies the worker in tanned leather as distinguished from the tanner. The Mochi not only makes leather articles, but he alone grains leather and gives it a surface colour or stain, as distinguished from a colour dyed throughout. In the east of the Panjab the name is usually applied only to the more skilled workmen of the towns. In the west however it is simply used to designate a Mussalman Chamar ; and the Mochi there is what the Chamar is in the east and belongs to the same caste, though his change of religion improves, though only slightly, his social position. He does not ordinarily weave, though in hushyarpur the majority of the Mochis are said t o be weavers, and he is not admitted to religious or social communion by the other Musalmns. In the west of the Panjab, however, the Chamar or Mochi no longer occupies that important position as an agricultural labourer that he does in the east. In the west he is merely a tanner and leather-worker, and his numbers are proportionally less than when a large part of the field-work is done by him. Moreover, he no longer renders menial service ; and it may be that his improved social position is partly due to this fact. Mr. Christie, indeed, says that so soon as a Chamar, whether Hindu or Musalman, abandons menial oUices and confines himself to working in leather, he rises in the social Scale and assumes the more respectable name of Mochi. The Mochi is proverbia1ly unpunctnal in rcnderlncc service, and there is a saying, ^The Mochi to morrow never comes. for Mochis must be added those who are shown in Abstract as having returned themselves as Jats.
Divisions of Chamars and Mochis
The tribes of the Chamar caste are innamerable, and some of them very large. It does not seem worth while to give any tabular state ment, as to include anything like even half the total number a very long list would have to be shown. But it is worth while compar ing the fignres for Chamars and Mochis for a few of the largest tribes. This is done in the margin. Only the first seven tribes are found in any numbers among the Chamars of the Dehli and Hissar divisions. Nos. 4 and 7 are the principal ones of the Ambala division while these two last, together willi Nos. 8 to 18, are found in the Jalandhar division. Among the Mochis the Bhatti and Chauhan tribes are the most numerous.
It is obvious that many of these tribal names are merely taken from the dominant race in whose service the tribe was formed. Eamdasia is of course a religious and not a tribal division and doubtless many of the sub-divisions returned are merely clans, and included in the larger tribes. Tlus last point will be shown in the detailed tables. But it appears that the Chamars of the Eastern Panjab may be broadly divided into five great sections, the Jatia, the Raidasi, the Chamar, the Chundar, and the Golia or Eaigar, no one of which intermarries with the others. The Jatia are found in greatest numbers about the neighbourhood of Dehli and Gurgaon. They work in horse and camel hides, which are an abomi nation to the Chandar, probably as having the footuncloven ; and are perhaps named from the word Jat (hard t), a camel-grazier. On the other hand, they are said to obtain the services of Gaur Brahmans, which would put them above all other Chamars, who have to be content with the minis trations of the outcast Chamarwa Brahman. The Raidasi or Rabdasi Chamars are named after Rai Das Bhagat, himself a Chamar, a contemporary of Kabir, and like him a disciple of Ramar.and.
They are the prevalent tribe in Karnal and the neighbourhood. The Golia is the lowest of all the sections ; and indeed the word Golia is the name of a section of many of the menial castes in the Eas tern Panjab, and in almost all cases carries with it an inferior standing in the caste. The Chamar comes between the Jatia and the Golia, and is the prevalent tribe further west, about Jalandhar and Ludhiana. The Chandar is the highest of all, and is said in Dehli to trace its origin from Benares, probably from some association with Kabir. It is the principal section in Hiskar and Sirsa. They donot tan, leaving that to the Chamrangs and Khatiks, and working only in ready prepared leather. There are doubtless similar tribal distinctions among the Chamars of the central districts ; but I have no information regardin g them.
The Chamrang
(Caste No. 113)
Chamrang is probably a purely occupational term, Chamrangs being Chamars by caste. The figures of Table VIIIA however would seem to show that Chamrang and Khatik have been confused in our returns, Chamrang being returned in largest numbers for the Amritsar division, for which no Khatiks are shown. The Chamrang does not stain or dye leather, but only tans it, rangna, as applied to leather, meaning nothing more than to tan. He tans ox and buffalo hides only, and does not work in the leather which he tans. (See further Khatik, section 602.)
The Dabgar
(Caste No 169)
The Dabgar is the man who makes the raw hide jars in which oil and ghi are carried and stored. He is said to be a scparate|caste in the North-West Provinces ; but the word implies, at least in manr parts of the province, nothing ' more than an occupation which, in Suilkot, is'followcd chie by Khojahs, Chamrangs and Chuhvas.
The Koli of the plains
(Caste No. 66)
The Koli of the hills will be discussed when the hill menials are treated of ; but the figures include a certain number of people who probably belong' to a wholly different caste from them. The former are probably of true Kolian origin ; while the latter, that is to say all those returned as Kolis for the Dehli and Hissar divisions, be long in all probaility to the great Kori or Koli tribe of Chamars, the head quarters of which is in Oudh, and whose usual occupation is weaving. These men are commonly classed with Chamars in the district in which they are found, but are distinguished from the indigenous Chamars by the fact of their weaving only, and doing no leather-work. Indeed they are commonly known as Chamar-Juluhas. Mr. Benton says : The Chamar-Julahas have no share in the village skins, and do no menial service ; but they would be very glad to be entered among the village Chamars, who have anticipated them and driven them to weaving as an occupation.I very much doubt whether this is generally true. As a rule the substitution of weaving for leather-work is made voluntarily, and denotes a distinct rise in the social scale. The Kar nal Kolis do not obtain the services of Brahmans. (See further Koli, section 657, and Kori, section 603).
The Julaha and Paoli
(Caste No. 9)
The weavers proper, of which the Julaha as he is called in the east and the Paoli as he is called in the villages of the west is the type, are an exceedingly numerous and important artisan class, more especially in the western districts where no weaving is done by the leather-working or scavenger castes. It is very possible that the Julaha is of aboriginal extraction. Indeed Mr. Wilson, who has had while making the settlement of Sirsa district unequalled opportunities of comparing different sections of the people, is of opinion that the Julahas and Chamars are probably the same by origin, the distinction between them having arisen from diver gence of occupation. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that the present position of the two is widely dissimilar. The Julaha does not work in impure leather, he eats no carrion, he touches no careases, and he is recognised by both Hindu and Musalman as a fellow believer and admitted to religious equality. In a word, the Chamar is a menial, the Julaha an artisan. The real fact seems to be that the word Julaha, which is a pure Persian word, the equivalent Hindi term being Tanti, is the name of the highest occupation ordinarily open to the outcast section of the community. Thus we find Koli- Julahas, Chamar-Jnlahas, Mochi-Julahas, Ramdasi-Julahas, and so forth ; and it is probable that after a few generations these men drop the prefix which denotes their low origin, and become Julahas pure and simple.
The Julaha proper is scantily represented in the Dehli and Hissar divisions, where his place is taken by Koli or Chumar- Julaha and Dhanak ; and is hardly known in the Derajat, where probably the Jat does most of the weav ing. (See also figures of Abstract No. 72, page 224'<). In the rest of the Pro- vince he constitutes some 3 to 4 per cent, of the total population. He is generally Hindu in Kfingra and Dchli, and often Hindu in Karnul, Ambala, and Hoshyarpur ; but on the whole some 92 per cent, of the Julahas are Musalman. The Sikhs are few in inimber.
The Julha confines himself, 1 believe,wholly to weaving. He is not a true village menial, being paid by the piece and not by customary dues. He is perhaps The most troublesonie of the artisan classes. Like the shoe maker of Europe, he follows a wholly sedentary oeenpation, and in the towns at least is one of the most turbulent classes of The community. There is a proverbial saying : ^' How should a weaver be patient ? Indeed the contrast between the low social standing and the obtrusive pretentiousness of the class is often used to point a proverb : A weaver by trade, and his name is Eatah Khun (^ victorious chief .^) Lord preserve us ! The weaver is going out hunting! Himself a weaver, and he has a Saiyad for his servant ! ' What ! Pathans the bond servants of weavers ! and so forth.
Divisions of Julahas
The julaha sub-divisions are exceedingly numerous, but the names of most of the larger ones are taken from dominant, land-owning tribes, I note some of the larg est in the margin. The Bhattis are very widely distributed; the Khokhars are chiefly found west of Lahore : the Janjuas and Awans in the Rawalpindi division, the Sindhus in the Amritsar and Lahore divisions, and the Jaryals in Kangra. The Kabirbansi are returned for Ambala and Kangra, and apparently this word has become a true tribal name ami now in cludes Musalman Julahas. It is derived from the great Rhagut Kabir of Benares who was himself a julaha, and w'hose teaching most of the Hindu Jula has profess to follow. The eastern Julahas are said to be divided in two great sections, Deswali, or those of the country, and Tel, the latter being supposed to be descended from a Julaha who married a Teli woman. The latter are socially inferior to the former. In the Jamna districts there are also a Gangapuri ^? Gangapari) and a Multani aection, the former being found only in the Jamna valley and the latter on the borders of the Malwa. The weaver appears tube called Golah in Peshawar and Kasbi in Hazara.
The Gadaria
(Caste No 73)
The Gadaria is the shepherd and goatherd of Hindustan, and is almost conuned to the Jamna zone of the Panjab. But even in that part of the Province he has almost ceased to be distinctively a shepherd, as the cultivating classes themselves often pasture their own flocks, and has become rather a blanket weaver, being indeed as often called Kanibalia as Gadaria. The Gadarias are Hindu almost without exception.
The Kanera
(Caste No. 170)
A small Muhammadau caste, found only on the lower courses of the Satluj, Chanab, and Indus. They must be distinguished from the Kandera or Penja of Dehli. They are a river tribe, and their original occupation was plaiting mats from grass and leaves, making string, and generally working in grass and reeds ; but they have now taken to weaving generally, and even cultivate land. They are a low caste, slightly but only slightly superior in standing and habits to the other grass-workers and tribes of the river banks. A Kaneri by caste, and her name is Ghulam Fatimah, and she is an associate of the gentlemen of the desert (wild pigs.) !
